riverdale
by NicoleD13
Summary: read to find out
1. Chapter 1

Sedillo6

Megan Sedillo

Rachael Krygsman

English 211

September 25, 2018

Fanfiction Writing

Introduction

Three months had gone by since Jugheads run in with the rival gang the ghoulies and with the start of another school year coming around his life is just going to get that much more complicated. While Jughead has recovered physically from his wounds he still is struggling mentally, at first the gang (his 3 best friends) was around him almost 24/7 making sure that he was okay but after the first month they slowly started to fade away drifting back into their own personal lives.

Archie had gone off to spend most of the summer with his mom out in Chicago while Veronica and her mom took some time away to recover since Veronicas fathers recent "business goals" had been uncovered and caused a strain on their family, and Betty poor Betty had to stay in Riverdale all summer not only to be with Jughead but to also face the wrath of the towns recent discovery that her father ended up being the black hood. Betty was there for Jughead and Jughead was there for Betty, but the emotional healing of Jugheads Trauma was far from over. He hid the fact that he constantly was awakened in the night from flashbacks and terrifying nightmares of that night with the ghoulies all he could remember was the pain from every punch, the impact of every kick and everything he was going to lose by giving himself up, he remembers nothing after blacking out only what he saw in the mirror in the hospital and from what Fp told him about when he found him. Fp had said to him that in the moment he found Jughead he had never been more scared in his life as Jughead was laying lifeless in the dirt and looked almost unrecognizable as Fp had knelt over his sons' body and prepared for the worst. Thankfully it hadn't been to late and Jughead was okay, well as okay as you can be after being beaten within an inch of your life, but while he did a fairly good job about hiding how he has recovered the gang doesn't know how affected he still is emotionally.

Jughead only hid his feelings for the fact that he didn't want to burden anybody else with his issues as everyone in Riverdale always seems to be going through some type of crazy shit of their own and with his newest position within the southside serpents as leader he did not want to portray himself as week. Jughead thought it was his job now to be the strong one for everybody else to lean on and look up to even if that meant hiding his emotions and pushing his feeling to the side, however with the beginning of the new school year and more drama unfolding in the town of Riverdale Jugheads life is about to take an unexpected turn forcing him into a downward spiral that is going to force him to deal with everything he has built up inside and it's going to be one long unexpected road to recovery.

It had been weeks since the entire gang was together with Archie and Veronica gone Jughead and betty had grown closer than ever before the past year had been more than most could handle but with the start of school they were all hoping to get back to living their high school drama filled lives together, instead of worrying about hunting down vigilantes and dealing with rival gangs.

…

It was around 7:45 a.m. when Betty walked into the newspaper room at Riverdale high and set her eyes on the Jughead who was already hard at work working on this week's edition of the school newspaper. "you can slow down you know? It's the first day of school there's no sense in worrying about what to write this early we have all week." Betty said as she leaned down and kissed Jughead on the cheek. She waited for a sarcastic comment to come out of his mouth but instead he muttered "I know your right" he looked at her, flashed a smile, got up and said, "let's go wait for Archie and Veronica in the lounge." Betty was all to eager to see her best friends again and was delightfully surprised to see Jughead felt the same way.

As Jughead and Betty walked down the hallways of Riverdale high the atmosphere was different, last year the integration of the students from Southside high into Riverdale high caused complete chaos. Neither of the schools were happy with the decision but they had no other choice. But this semester it was different the Southside students and Riverdale students became more alike then not, there were no fights arguments or vandalism just peers among one another. A short silent walk later betty and jughead had arrived at the lounge and took their respective seats on the old red velvet couch sitting in the middle of the room. By this time, it was 8 o'clock and you could hear the familiar sound of Veronicas heels clicking against the floor of the hallway, the sound got louder and louder until Veronica appeared in the doorway with Archie not far behind. The two had been laughing, probably about something stupid that Archie had said. Veronica then turned and saw Betty and immediately began walking in her direction. "Betty!" Veronica squealed as she opened her arms for a hug. Betty then got up and had the same reaction "Veronica I missed you!" the two then embraced in a quick hug. They began to catch up and as soon as the topic of fashion came up Archie and Jughead had decided to tune them out. Instead of a hug the two settled for a manly handshake and a head nod to one another.

Archie started off the conversation by asking jughead how he was doing, to which Jughead replied as just fine. But the truth was that jughead was not fine he was far from it, the night before he had barely slept, the bags that fell from under his eyes had supported this, Jughead was having traumatic flashbacks, he hadn't felt unsafe and he hadn't had a problem physically, but mentally he had never felt more fucked up. It was something that he didn't know how to fix and something he was to proud to admit to so for now his answer of "just fine" was going to suffice to anybody else who had asked.

…

The brown leather, dilapidated watch around jugheads wrist marked 3:42p.m. it was the end of the school day and jughead decided to go for a bite alone at pops diner when the sound of distant sirens began getting louder and louder until jughead eventually saw flashing red and blue lights on several patrol cars in the distance. It wasn't a common site to see in Riverdale but jughead figured the town had reached its quota of crazy shit happening for at least the rest of the year and didn't seem to be interested in finding out what the cause of these sirens could be. A short while later jughead was sitting in booth at pops diner with his half-eaten burger and fries when Kevin walks in frantically. after scanning the room Kevin locked eyes on jughead and sat across from him. Kevin was friends with all of them betty, veronica, Archie and even jughead but the two had never really spent any alone time together so the atmosphere was awkward at first but changed when jughead saw the look on Kevin's face.

"look Kev I was kind of hoping to be" jughead began to say but was quickly cut off by Kevin

"did you hear?" Kevin asked

"hear what?" jughead replied

"the sirens going through town" Kevin said

"yeah Kev I saw them what about it?" jughead said, he was beginning to get annoyed by Kevin's dramatic questions that were giving him no answers.

"my dad just called me and told me that he got an anonymous tip that there was a body laying on the edge of the lake" Kevin said while looking around frantically

"what do you mean they found a body" jug head said

"come on jug you're not 5 a body there's a dead body laying outside of the lake and my dad said she can't be any older than 16 or 17, blond hair but unrecognizable, do you know what that means jughead, that means that someone is out there killing people our age"

"you don't know that it could have just been an accident, your being overdramatic Kev" jughead knew deep down inside that the likely hood of this being an accident was wishful thinking, but he didn't have the mental compacity to deal with a murder who had an axe to grind with kids of Riverdale.

"IT WASN'T an accident" Kevin snapped "my dad said she was bruised and beaten, tied with rope and blood was everywhere."

Jugheads mind began to race he hadn't seen betty since the morning, he got this ill feeling inside of him his heart began to pound harder and harder. He reached for his phone praying that betty would pick up, he called but there was no answer, he tried again and again, still no answer. In this moment he began to panic.

"Kev have you seen betty?"

"no not since 3rd period" Kevin answered

This made jughead feel nauseous he jumped out of the booth and said "I have to go find betty"

"that's not all jug." Kevin stated

"what do you mean that's not all?" jughead stopped and asked


	2. Chapter 2

Fanfiction Writing

Introduction

Three months had gone by since Jugheads run in with the rival gang the ghoulies and with the start of another school year coming around his life is just going to get that much more complicated. While Jughead has recovered physically from his wounds he still is struggling mentally, at first the gang (his 3 best friends) was around him almost 24/7 making sure that he was okay but after the first month they slowly started to fade away drifting back into their own personal lives.

Archie had gone off to spend most of the summer with his mom out in Chicago while Veronica and her mom took some time away to recover since Veronicas fathers recent "business goals" had been uncovered and caused a strain on their family, and Betty poor Betty had to stay in Riverdale all summer not only to be with Jughead but to also face the wrath of the towns recent discovery that her father ended up being the black hood. Betty was there for Jughead and Jughead was there for Betty, but the emotional healing of Jugheads Trauma was far from over. He hid the fact that he constantly was awakened in the night from flashbacks and terrifying nightmares of that night with the ghoulies all he could remember was the pain from every punch, the impact of every kick and everything he was going to lose by giving himself up, he remembers nothing after blacking out only what he saw in the mirror in the hospital and from what Fp told him about when he found him. Fp had said to him that in the moment he found Jughead he had never been more scared in his life as Jughead was laying lifeless in the dirt and looked almost unrecognizable as Fp had knelt over his sons' body and prepared for the worst. Thankfully it hadn't been to late and Jughead was okay, well as okay as you can be after being beaten within an inch of your life, but while he did a fairly good job about hiding how he has recovered the gang doesn't know how affected he still is emotionally.

Jughead only hid his feelings for the fact that he didn't want to burden anybody else with his issues as everyone in Riverdale always seems to be going through some type of crazy shit of their own and with his newest position within the southside serpents as leader he did not want to portray himself as week. Jughead thought it was his job now to be the strong one for everybody else to lean on and look up to even if that meant hiding his emotions and pushing his feeling to the side, however with the beginning of the new school year and more drama unfolding in the town of Riverdale Jugheads life is about to take an unexpected turn forcing him into a downward spiral that is going to force him to deal with everything he has built up inside and it's going to be one long unexpected road to recovery.

It had been weeks since the entire gang was together with Archie and Veronica gone Jughead and betty had grown closer than ever before the past year had been more than most could handle but with the start of school they were all hoping to get back to living their high school drama filled lives together, instead of worrying about hunting down vigilantes and dealing with rival gangs.

…

It was around 7:45 a.m. when Betty walked into the newspaper room at Riverdale high and set her eyes on the Jughead who was already hard at work working on this week's edition of the school newspaper. "you can slow down you know? It's the first day of school there's no sense in worrying about what to write this early we have all week." Betty said as she leaned down and kissed Jughead on the cheek. She waited for a sarcastic comment to come out of his mouth but instead he muttered "I know your right" he looked at her, flashed a smile, got up and said, "let's go wait for Archie and Veronica in the lounge." Betty was all to eager to see her best friends again and was delightfully surprised to see Jughead felt the same way.

As Jughead and Betty walked down the hallways of Riverdale high the atmosphere was different, last year the integration of the students from Southside high into Riverdale high caused complete chaos. Neither of the schools were happy with the decision but they had no other choice. But this semester it was different the Southside students and Riverdale students became more alike then not, there were no fights arguments or vandalism just peers among one another. A short silent walk later betty and jughead had arrived at the lounge and took their respective seats on the old red velvet couch sitting in the middle of the room. By this time, it was 8 o'clock and you could hear the familiar sound of Veronicas heels clicking against the floor of the hallway, the sound got louder and louder until Veronica appeared in the doorway with Archie not far behind. The two had been laughing, probably about something stupid that Archie had said. Veronica then turned and saw Betty and immediately began walking in her direction. "Betty!" Veronica squealed as she opened her arms for a hug. Betty then got up and had the same reaction "Veronica I missed you!" the two then embraced in a quick hug. They began to catch up and as soon as the topic of fashion came up Archie and Jughead had decided to tune them out. Instead of a hug the two settled for a manly handshake and a head nod to one another.

Archie started off the conversation by asking jughead how he was doing, to which Jughead replied as just fine. But the truth was that jughead was not fine he was far from it, the night before he had barely slept, the bags that fell from under his eyes had supported this, Jughead was having traumatic flashbacks, he hadn't felt unsafe and he hadn't had a problem physically, but mentally he had never felt more fucked up. It was something that he didn't know how to fix and something he was to proud to admit to so for now his answer of "just fine" was going to suffice to anybody else who had asked.

…

The brown leather, dilapidated watch around jugheads wrist marked 3:42p.m. it was the end of the school day and jughead decided to go for a bite alone at pops diner when the sound of distant sirens began getting louder and louder until jughead eventually saw flashing red and blue lights on several patrol cars in the distance. It wasn't a common site to see in Riverdale but jughead figured the town had reached its quota of crazy shit happening for at least the rest of the year and didn't seem to be interested in finding out what the cause of these sirens could be. A short while later jughead was sitting in booth at pops diner with his half-eaten burger and fries when Kevin walks in frantically. after scanning the room Kevin locked eyes on jughead and sat across from him. Kevin was friends with all of them betty, veronica, Archie and even jughead but the two had never really spent any alone time together so the atmosphere was awkward at first but changed when jughead saw the look on Kevin's face.

"look Kev I was kind of hoping to be" jughead began to say but was quickly cut off by Kevin

"did you hear?" Kevin asked

"hear what?" jughead replied

"the sirens going through town" Kevin said

"yeah Kev I saw them what about it?" jughead said, he was beginning to get annoyed by Kevin's dramatic questions that were giving him no answers.

"my dad just called me and told me that he got an anonymous tip that there was a body laying on the edge of the lake" Kevin said while looking around frantically

"what do you mean they found a body" jug head said

"come on jug you're not 5 a body there's a dead body laying outside of the lake and my dad said she can't be any older than 16 or 17, blond hair but unrecognizable, do you know what that means jughead, that means that someone is out there killing people our age"

"you don't know that it could have just been an accident, your being overdramatic Kev" jughead knew deep down inside that the likely hood of this being an accident was wishful thinking, but he didn't have the mental compacity to deal with a murder who had an axe to grind with kids of Riverdale.

"IT WASN'T an accident" Kevin snapped "my dad said she was bruised and beaten, tied with rope and blood was everywhere."

Jugheads mind began to race he hadn't seen betty since the morning, he got this ill feeling inside of him his heart began to pound harder and harder. He reached for his phone praying that betty would pick up, he called but there was no answer, he tried again and again, still no answer. In this moment he began to panic.

"Kev have you seen betty?"

"no not since 3rd period" Kevin answered

This made jughead feel nauseous he jumped out of the booth and said "I have to go find betty"

"that's not all jug." Kevin stated

"what do you mean that's not all?" jughead stopped and asked "Kevin!" he repeated

"you know how today the day Bettys dad was being moved to another prison?" Kevin said

"yeah, Bettys been distant about the whole thing lately what about it?" jughead said

"my dad said that he escaped…" Kevin's voice began to trail off.

Jugheads eyebrows suddenly became raised, his posture changed, and he tensed up. Betty wasn't answering her phone a body had been found and she's not answering her phone, jugheads head began to flood with terrible thoughts of the unthinkable. Without saying a word, he rushed out of pops.

…

It was times like this when jughead had wished he had a car because it seemed as if he was moving in slow motion walking back to the school he figured betty would be there I mean she had to be right. Jughead finally was back at the school and rushing through the hallways, the newspaper room! She has to be there! Jughead thought as he was wondering the halls. He finally go to the newspaper room and it was empty he noticed Bettys geometry book on the table but none of her other things were there. His heart began to beat fast and he went into a slight panic. At this point jughead decided to call veronica she had o know where betty way they were always together. Jughead impatiently waited for veronica to answer but to his disappointment she didn't answer he tried once more and still nothing. Home, she has to be home! Jughead thought as he was leaving the school he was walking past the gym when he suddenly heard a fierce 5-6-7 and 8! Of course, it was Monday she had practice with the river vixens. It had totally spaced jugheads mind. When he looked through the windows on the doors he set his eyes on betty but instead of relief he suddenly felt very angry and didn't know why. Within an instant he flung the door open to the gym and walked in

"Betty" jughead said with a firm tone

This caused the river vixens to stop practicing to which did not please Cheryl.

Cheryl was not happy to see jughead when she turned around

"This is a private practice jughead" Cheryl said with attitude

"I need to talk to betty" jughead snapped back

" Jug what's.." Betty began o say before she was cut off by Cheryl

"We still have another half hour here jughead we desperately need our, practice time"

"oh, shush it Cheryl she's my girlfriend and I need to talk to her" jugheads tone was stiff

" 2 minutes Cheryl ill be back" betty said as she grabbed jug by the arm and pulled him out of the gym with her Cheryl replied with an eyeroll and turned away 5-6-7-8!

"jug what did you need?" betty asked

"why aren't you answering your phone" jughead snapped at her

"what's up with you, I have practice you know that, its not my fault" betty got defensive

"when I need to get a hold of you, I need you to answer, you can't just leave me hanging like that betty" jughead began to raise his voice at her

"unless you have something important to say leave, I don't know what's going on with you, but you need to calm down." Betty said. Jughead knew she had done nothing wrong, but her answer just made him angrier.

"CALM DOWN, YOUR TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN, you have no right" jughead stepped away from her

"what Is your problem betty becoming upset, I don't have time for this right now" betty turned to walk back into the gym and jughead tried to follow but she stopped him.

"betty" jughead said in a nicer tone

"don't" betty answered and walked away

Jughead leaned back against the wall and put his head in his hands and thought to himself what is wrong with me. Jughead knew he didn't have a reason to blame betty, but he couldn't control his anger.

…

A short while later betty walked out of the school and saw jughead sitting on the wall she was annoyed with him but knew something was up. As betty began to walk up to jughead he turned to look at her.

"hey" she said

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to go off in there I don't know why I did that" jughead said

"yeah it was rude but it's okay, what's wrong ?" betty asked

"what isn't wrong" jughead said as he let out a small chuckle and shook his head. Betty just kept looking at him she couldn't tell what it was, but something was off with jug. After a short period of silence jughead began to speak again.

"something happened today betty and I don't know what to do but I don't want you to worry either"

"what is it"

"I was sitting at pops diner today after school and Kevin came in he told me that they found the body of a blonde girl at the lake and didn't know who it was, I just got worried nd thought the worst" jughead told her

"oh my gosh! What happened to her? Did they find out who she is? Where? Why weren't we told? How old was she?" betty began on and on with the questions

"betty that's not even the problem jughead jumped in and said Kevin also said that while they were getting ready to move your dad to another facility he, he got away" Bettys face went blank and she looked as if she was going to be sick. She didn't say a word and her eyes glossed over.

"look betty I don't know how or what happened but I'm here for you, there gunna find him he's probably not even still in Riverdale and if he is he's going to stay away from you he wouldn't risk you getting hurt," at this point jughead felt as if he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince betty.

"I want to go home" betty said as her voice became shaky

"okay" jughead and betty began walking towards her car.

…

jughead, betty, Kevin, veronica and Archie were all sitting in Bettys living room they were all just sitting there trying to take in everything.

"I thought we were done with this I thought it would be over" Archie broke the silence

"psh, we all did, why is it that every time things finally seem to be coming together they fall apart." Kevin said

"welcome to hell" veronica added

"maybe its not that bad, maybe it was an accident with what happened at the lake and betty your dad he's got to be gone now I mean come on we all know that right" Archie said as he was trying to be positive about the whole thing.

Archie was like a brother to jughead and even though they had their differences jughead could honestly not live without him. Jughead know that Archie was just trying to make the situation better, but he began to have the same anger towards Archie every time Archie spoke. He got the same feeling he did when he was talking to betty back at the school.

"we're going to fine Archie said we shouldn't even be too worried about it lets just act as if we didn't even know, thing will eventually go back to normal." Archie said

"are you stupid? Everything will go back to normal really Archie? Shits happening here there is no normal on Riverdale this is our fucking lives we can't just forget about it; 2 killers are on the streets one of which we already know has a thing for betty. The fact that you can sit here and say that is ridiculous. Grow up" jughead said

"what? Just because I'm trying to see the positive side of something doesn't mean that I'm stupid know it's our fucking lives you don't think I know that I've been her just as long as you have jug, and I'm just as worried as you are but fuck it what are we supposed to do, don't come at me for trying to be positive" Archie said defensively

"that's all you ever say is to be positive there is nothing positive about being here and you know that get used to it and man up this is our reality" jughead said

"guys enough" veronica said

Archie stood up as he got was beginning o get heated by jugheads criticism "man up? What do you mean man up I've been through just as much as you have so don't fucking tell me to man up" Archie said?

Jughead stood up at eye level with Archie " you haven't been through half the shit I've been through pretty boy" jughead said to Archie

"fuck you" Archie said as he pushed on jugheads shoulder

Jughead lost it and pushed back.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH NO!" veronica grabbed them both by the arm before they could get any more physical, "both of you need to stop it this isn't helping anything"

Jughead pulled his arm form veronicas grasp "psh, look whose here to save the day as always" jughead said sarcastically

"watch you're your talking to" Archie snapped

Veronica pulling Archie away and began to get angry with jughead

"I don't know why you think it's okay to act like this especially right now when betty need you, you're the one acting up, we are all here for her you can come at me all you want but your wasting your breath" veronica walked away into the kitchen

"jughead let out a small laugh your being sarcastic right, here for me ? none of you were there for me when I needed you, nobody in this room"

"really jug" betty said, she had been quiet the whole time just thinking but jughead knew she was hurt by what he said, and he just couldn't care. Jughead turned and walked out. Of the door.

"jug where are you going?" betty stood up and asked

Jughead didn't even urn around he just walked out of the door and slammed it shut behind him.

"wow" Kevin said softly

"what is his problem" veronica asked

"I don't know he snapped at me earlier today during practice because I didn't answer my phone, somethings got to be up" betty said

"whatever it is he needs to chill out" Archie said

…


	3. Chapter 3

Sedillo16

Megan Sedillo

Rachael Krygsman

English 211

September 25, 2018

Fanfiction Writing

Introduction

Three months had gone by since Jugheads run in with the rival gang the ghoulies and with the start of another school year coming around his life is just going to get that much more complicated. While Jughead has recovered physically from his wounds he still is struggling mentally, at first the gang (his 3 best friends) was around him almost 24/7 making sure that he was okay but after the first month they slowly started to fade away drifting back into their own personal lives.

Archie had gone off to spend most of the summer with his mom out in Chicago while Veronica and her mom took some time away to recover since Veronicas fathers recent "business goals" had been uncovered and caused a strain on their family, and Betty poor Betty had to stay in Riverdale all summer not only to be with Jughead but to also face the wrath of the towns recent discovery that her father ended up being the black hood. Betty was there for Jughead and Jughead was there for Betty, but the emotional healing of Jugheads Trauma was far from over. He hid the fact that he constantly was awakened in the night from flashbacks and terrifying nightmares of that night with the ghoulies all he could remember was the pain from every punch, the impact of every kick and everything he was going to lose by giving himself up, he remembers nothing after blacking out only what he saw in the mirror in the hospital and from what Fp told him about when he found him. Fp had said to him that in the moment he found Jughead he had never been more scared in his life as Jughead was laying lifeless in the dirt and looked almost unrecognizable as Fp had knelt over his sons' body and prepared for the worst. Thankfully it hadn't been to late and Jughead was okay, well as okay as you can be after being beaten within an inch of your life, but while he did a fairly good job about hiding how he has recovered the gang doesn't know how affected he still is emotionally.

Jughead only hid his feelings for the fact that he didn't want to burden anybody else with his issues as everyone in Riverdale always seems to be going through some type of crazy shit of their own and with his newest position within the southside serpents as leader he did not want to portray himself as week. Jughead thought it was his job now to be the strong one for everybody else to lean on and look up to even if that meant hiding his emotions and pushing his feeling to the side, however with the beginning of the new school year and more drama unfolding in the town of Riverdale Jugheads life is about to take an unexpected turn forcing him into a downward spiral that is going to force him to deal with everything he has built up inside and it's going to be one long unexpected road to recovery.

It had been weeks since the entire gang was together with Archie and Veronica gone Jughead and betty had grown closer than ever before the past year had been more than most could handle but with the start of school they were all hoping to get back to living their high school drama filled lives together, instead of worrying about hunting down vigilantes and dealing with rival gangs.

…

It was around 7:45 a.m. when Betty walked into the newspaper room at Riverdale high and set her eyes on the Jughead who was already hard at work working on this week's edition of the school newspaper. "you can slow down you know? It's the first day of school there's no sense in worrying about what to write this early we have all week." Betty said as she leaned down and kissed Jughead on the cheek. She waited for a sarcastic comment to come out of his mouth but instead he muttered "I know your right" he looked at her, flashed a smile, got up and said, "let's go wait for Archie and Veronica in the lounge." Betty was all to eager to see her best friends again and was delightfully surprised to see Jughead felt the same way.

As Jughead and Betty walked down the hallways of Riverdale high the atmosphere was different, last year the integration of the students from Southside high into Riverdale high caused complete chaos. Neither of the schools were happy with the decision but they had no other choice. But this semester it was different the Southside students and Riverdale students became more alike then not, there were no fights arguments or vandalism just peers among one another. A short silent walk later betty and jughead had arrived at the lounge and took their respective seats on the old red velvet couch sitting in the middle of the room. By this time, it was 8 o'clock and you could hear the familiar sound of Veronicas heels clicking against the floor of the hallway, the sound got louder and louder until Veronica appeared in the doorway with Archie not far behind. The two had been laughing, probably about something stupid that Archie had said. Veronica then turned and saw Betty and immediately began walking in her direction. "Betty!" Veronica squealed as she opened her arms for a hug. Betty then got up and had the same reaction "Veronica I missed you!" the two then embraced in a quick hug. They began to catch up and as soon as the topic of fashion came up Archie and Jughead had decided to tune them out. Instead of a hug the two settled for a manly handshake and a head nod to one another.

Archie started off the conversation by asking jughead how he was doing, to which Jughead replied as just fine. But the truth was that jughead was not fine he was far from it, the night before he had barely slept, the bags that fell from under his eyes had supported this, Jughead was having traumatic flashbacks, he hadn't felt unsafe and he hadn't had a problem physically, but mentally he had never felt more fucked up. It was something that he didn't know how to fix and something he was to proud to admit to so for now his answer of "just fine" was going to suffice to anybody else who had asked.

…

The brown leather, dilapidated watch around jugheads wrist marked 3:42p.m. it was the end of the school day and jughead decided to go for a bite alone at pops diner when the sound of distant sirens began getting louder and louder until jughead eventually saw flashing red and blue lights on several patrol cars in the distance. It wasn't a common site to see in Riverdale but jughead figured the town had reached its quota of crazy shit happening for at least the rest of the year and didn't seem to be interested in finding out what the cause of these sirens could be. A short while later jughead was sitting in booth at pops diner with his half-eaten burger and fries when Kevin walks in frantically. after scanning the room Kevin locked eyes on jughead and sat across from him. Kevin was friends with all of them betty, veronica, Archie and even jughead but the two had never really spent any alone time together so the atmosphere was awkward at first but changed when jughead saw the look on Kevin's face.

"look Kev I was kind of hoping to be" jughead began to say but was quickly cut off by Kevin

"did you hear?" Kevin asked

"hear what?" jughead replied

"the sirens going through town" Kevin said

"yeah Kev I saw them what about it?" jughead said, he was beginning to get annoyed by Kevin's dramatic questions that were giving him no answers.

"my dad just called me and told me that he got an anonymous tip that there was a body laying on the edge of the lake" Kevin said while looking around frantically

"what do you mean they found a body" jug head said

"come on jug you're not 5 a body there's a dead body laying outside of the lake and my dad said she can't be any older than 16 or 17, blond hair but unrecognizable, do you know what that means jughead, that means that someone is out there killing people our age"

"you don't know that it could have just been an accident, your being overdramatic Kev" jughead knew deep down inside that the likely hood of this being an accident was wishful thinking, but he didn't have the mental compacity to deal with a murder who had an axe to grind with kids of Riverdale.

"IT WASN'T an accident" Kevin snapped "my dad said she was bruised and beaten, tied with rope and blood was everywhere."

Jugheads mind began to race he hadn't seen betty since the morning, he got this ill feeling inside of him his heart began to pound harder and harder. He reached for his phone praying that betty would pick up, he called but there was no answer, he tried again and again, still no answer. In this moment he began to panic.

"Kev have you seen betty?"

"no not since 3rd period" Kevin answered

This made jughead feel nauseous he jumped out of the booth and said "I have to go find betty"

"that's not all jug." Kevin stated

"what do you mean that's not all?" jughead stopped and asked "Kevin!" he repeated

"you know how today the day Bettys dad was being moved to another prison?" Kevin said

"yeah, Bettys been distant about the whole thing lately what about it?" jughead said

"my dad said that he escaped…" Kevin's voice began to trail off.

Jugheads eyebrows suddenly became raised, his posture changed, and he tensed up. Betty wasn't answering her phone a body had been found and she's not answering her phone, jugheads head began to flood with terrible thoughts of the unthinkable. Without saying a word, he rushed out of pops.

…

It was times like this when jughead had wished he had a car because it seemed as if he was moving in slow motion walking back to the school he figured betty would be there I mean she had to be right. Jughead finally was back at the school and rushing through the hallways, the newspaper room! She has to be there! Jughead thought as he was wondering the halls. He finally go to the newspaper room and it was empty he noticed Bettys geometry book on the table but none of her other things were there. His heart began to beat fast and he went into a slight panic. At this point jughead decided to call veronica she had o know where betty way they were always together. Jughead impatiently waited for veronica to answer but to his disappointment she didn't answer he tried once more and still nothing. Home, she has to be home! Jughead thought as he was leaving the school he was walking past the gym when he suddenly heard a fierce 5-6-7 and 8! Of course, it was Monday she had practice with the river vixens. It had totally spaced jugheads mind. When he looked through the windows on the doors he set his eyes on betty but instead of relief he suddenly felt very angry and didn't know why. Within an instant he flung the door open to the gym and walked in

"Betty" jughead said with a firm tone

This caused the river vixens to stop practicing to which did not please Cheryl.

Cheryl was not happy to see jughead when she turned around

"This is a private practice jughead" Cheryl said with attitude

"I need to talk to betty" jughead snapped back

" Jug what's.." Betty began o say before she was cut off by Cheryl

"We still have another half hour here jughead we desperately need our, practice time"

"oh, shush it Cheryl she's my girlfriend and I need to talk to her" jugheads tone was stiff

" 2 minutes Cheryl ill be back" betty said as she grabbed jug by the arm and pulled him out of the gym with her Cheryl replied with an eyeroll and turned away 5-6-7-8!

"jug what did you need?" betty asked

"why aren't you answering your phone" jughead snapped at her

"what's up with you, I have practice you know that, its not my fault" betty got defensive

"when I need to get a hold of you, I need you to answer, you can't just leave me hanging like that betty" jughead began to raise his voice at her

"unless you have something important to say leave, I don't know what's going on with you, but you need to calm down." Betty said. Jughead knew she had done nothing wrong, but her answer just made him angrier.

"CALM DOWN, YOUR TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN, you have no right" jughead stepped away from her

"what Is your problem betty becoming upset, I don't have time for this right now" betty turned to walk back into the gym and jughead tried to follow but she stopped him.

"betty" jughead said in a nicer tone

"don't" betty answered and walked away

Jughead leaned back against the wall and put his head in his hands and thought to himself what is wrong with me. Jughead knew he didn't have a reason to blame betty, but he couldn't control his anger.

…

A short while later betty walked out of the school and saw jughead sitting on the wall she was annoyed with him but knew something was up. As betty began to walk up to jughead he turned to look at her.

"hey" she said

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to go off in there I don't know why I did that" jughead said

"yeah it was rude but it's okay, what's wrong ?" betty asked

"what isn't wrong" jughead said as he let out a small chuckle and shook his head. Betty just kept looking at him she couldn't tell what it was, but something was off with jug. After a short period of silence jughead began to speak again.

"something happened today betty and I don't know what to do but I don't want you to worry either"

"what is it"

"I was sitting at pops diner today after school and Kevin came in he told me that they found the body of a blonde girl at the lake and didn't know who it was, I just got worried nd thought the worst" jughead told her

"oh my gosh! What happened to her? Did they find out who she is? Where? Why weren't we told? How old was she?" betty began on and on with the questions

"betty that's not even the problem jughead jumped in and said Kevin also said that while they were getting ready to move your dad to another facility he, he got away" Bettys face went blank and she looked as if she was going to be sick. She didn't say a word and her eyes glossed over.

"look betty I don't know how or what happened but I'm here for you, there gunna find him he's probably not even still in Riverdale and if he is he's going to stay away from you he wouldn't risk you getting hurt," at this point jughead felt as if he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince betty.

"I want to go home" betty said as her voice became shaky

"okay" jughead and betty began walking towards her car.

…

jughead, betty, Kevin, veronica and Archie were all sitting in Bettys living room they were all just sitting there trying to take in everything.

"I thought we were done with this I thought it would be over" Archie broke the silence

"psh, we all did, why is it that every time things finally seem to be coming together they fall apart." Kevin said

"welcome to hell" veronica added

"maybe its not that bad, maybe it was an accident with what happened at the lake and betty your dad he's got to be gone now I mean come on we all know that right" Archie said as he was trying to be positive about the whole thing.

Archie was like a brother to jughead and even though they had their differences jughead could honestly not live without him. Jughead know that Archie was just trying to make the situation better, but he began to have the same anger towards Archie every time Archie spoke. He got the same feeling he did when he was talking to betty back at the school.

"we're going to fine Archie said we shouldn't even be too worried about it lets just act as if we didn't even know, thing will eventually go back to normal." Archie said

"are you stupid? Everything will go back to normal really Archie? Shits happening here there is no normal on Riverdale this is our fucking lives we can't just forget about it; 2 killers are on the streets one of which we already know has a thing for betty. The fact that you can sit here and say that is ridiculous. Grow up" jughead said

"what? Just because I'm trying to see the positive side of something doesn't mean that I'm stupid know it's our fucking lives you don't think I know that I've been her just as long as you have jug, and I'm just as worried as you are but fuck it what are we supposed to do, don't come at me for trying to be positive" Archie said defensively

"that's all you ever say is to be positive there is nothing positive about being here and you know that get used to it and man up this is our reality" jughead said

"guys enough" veronica said

Archie stood up as he got was beginning o get heated by jugheads criticism "man up? What do you mean man up I've been through just as much as you have so don't fucking tell me to man up" Archie said?

Jughead stood up at eye level with Archie " you haven't been through half the shit I've been through pretty boy" jughead said to Archie

"fuck you" Archie said as he pushed on jugheads shoulder

Jughead lost it and pushed back.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH NO!" veronica grabbed them both by the arm before they could get any more physical, "both of you need to stop it this isn't helping anything"

Jughead pulled his arm form veronicas grasp "psh, look whose here to save the day as always" jughead said sarcastically

"watch you're your talking to" Archie snapped

Veronica pulling Archie away and began to get angry with jughead

"I don't know why you think it's okay to act like this especially right now when betty need you, you're the one acting up, we are all here for her you can come at me all you want but your wasting your breath" veronica walked away into the kitchen

"jughead let out a small laugh your being sarcastic right, here for me ? none of you were there for me when I needed you, nobody in this room"

"really jug" betty said, she had been quiet the whole time just thinking but jughead knew she was hurt by what he said, and he just couldn't care. Jughead turned and walked out. Of the door.

"jug where are you going?" betty stood up and asked

Jughead didn't even urn around he just walked out of the door and slammed it shut behind him.

"wow" Kevin said softly

"what is his problem" veronica asked

"I don't know he snapped at me earlier today during practice because I didn't answer my phone, somethings got to be up" betty said

"whatever it is he needs to chill out" Archie said

…

The next day jughead was nowhere to be found, betty sat in the newspaper room where she normally meets jughead until the bell to first period rang. Betty had gotten up and left. She walked into chemistry and sat next to Kevin.

"how's jughead" Kevin asked?

"I don't know I haven't seen him, yet he just needed time to cool down I guess"

Betty had texted jughead several times but got no response and was starting to get worried.

…

It was now lunch, and everybody was in the lounge except for jughead betty had tried calling him three times.

"unbelievable, he gets mad at me for not answering my phone" betty said

"that's how he is betty, I'm sure he's fine" Archie said

"it's just at a time like this why is he going to start more problems he knows he can come to any of us with anything its not fair that he gets to disappear when he wants to"

"your right I'll go by his house after school and see if he's there and talk to him"

"no, it's okay I'll go, and let you guys know" betty said as the bell rang to go back to class.

…

The clock on the wall marked 3:29 p.m. as betty stared at the little hand making its way around the 6 slowly clicking closer and closer to the 12 she couldn't help but thing about jughead, she was worried he had run off again or had done something stupid. RING *I didn't know how to spell the sound a bell makes* betty slightly jumped and grabbed her things eager to see jughead. On the drive over betty was acting out different scenarios of how things were going to go. When she finally got there Fp had answered the door and told her he came early this morning and hasn't been out of his room since. Betty walked to the back of the house and saw jughead sitting in his bed writing something down in a journal. Jughead looked up to see who was in the room he paused for a moment when he saw it was betty and then returned to his writing.

"seriously, jug"

"what?"

"you get mad at me when I don't answer my phone and you just disappear like that?"

Jughead shrugged his shoulders, betty sat on him bed and pushed his journal down.

"hey, I'm trying to talk to you"

"and I'm trying to write" jughead said

"what is your problem lately first going off on me then Archie and now your acting like this? Whatever is going on you can talk to me about instead of being rude"

"just go I'm fine there's nothing to talk about"

"you don't get to do that to me not now not when I need you, I can't stop thinking about my dad he tired to kill me not even 5 months ago and now he's somewhere out there what if he tries again, I'm worried abut me I'm worried about you I'm worried about our friends, aren't you?"

"your dad had an obsession with you he didn't want to kill you betty, as for me and everyone else living in this town we're all fucked in the end no point in worrying about it now"

Betty couldn't believe what jughead had just said tears began to fill her eyes she threw jugheads journal at the wall

"so, you don't even care that's it? betty paused but jughead didn't answer …fine I'm leaving"

"bye" jughead said, betty got up and walked out of the room and slammed the door he could hear her mumble the word asshole under her breath. As betty got in her car to drive home she broke down at a time when she needed jughead the most he was pushing her away with no explanation.

…

Betty walked into pops diner and took a seat next to Kevin across from veronica and Archie. They could tell she had been crying.

"what happened, did you go see jughead" veronica asked softly

"yeah he's "fine" apparently just an asshole what right does he have to act like that, whatever I'm over it" betty tried to reassure herself

"I'm sorry Hun he'll come around eventually you know that and if he doesn't forget him" that's just my opinion veronica said.

"I think I'm just going to go home guys I'm not really feeling it today I'll se you guys tomorrow okay" betty got up from the booth and left.

"what an idiot jug" veronica said as she bit into a fry

…

Jughead sat on his bed after betty left and stared at his journal on the wall he didn't know what was wrong with him everything was fine when it was just him and betty in the summer, but he felt off being around everybody he felt mad at them, and alone, but he didn't know why. Jughead got up and picked up his journal he had been writing tomorrows newspaper. As night was approaching he texted betty but got no response. He tried calling but didn't expect her to answer and he was right she didn't. he figured he could apologize tomorrow he rolled over in bed and closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. In the morning when jughead woke up he had felt refreshed for the first time in weeks he wasn't awakened by terrifying nightmares or flashbacks of that night. He just knew that he messed up with betty and was fully ready to apologize to her today at school, and everybody else.

…


	4. Chapter 4

Sedillo21

Riverdale: Bettys gone

Introduction

Three months had gone by since Jugheads run in with the rival gang the ghoulies and with the start of another school year coming around his life is just going to get that much more complicated. While Jughead has recovered physically from his wounds he still is struggling mentally, at first the gang (his 3 best friends) was around him almost 24/7 making sure that he was okay but after the first month they slowly started to fade away drifting back into their own personal lives.

Archie had gone off to spend most of the summer with his mom out in Chicago while Veronica and her mom took some time away to recover since Veronicas fathers recent "business goals" had been uncovered and caused a strain on their family, and Betty poor Betty had to stay in Riverdale all summer not only to be with Jughead but to also face the wrath of the towns recent discovery that her father ended up being the black hood. Betty was there for Jughead and Jughead was there for Betty, but the emotional healing of Jugheads Trauma was far from over. He hid the fact that he constantly was awakened in the night from flashbacks and terrifying nightmares of that night with the ghoulies all he could remember was the pain from every punch, the impact of every kick and everything he was going to lose by giving himself up, he remembers nothing after blacking out only what he saw in the mirror in the hospital and from what Fp told him about when he found him. Fp had said to him that in the moment he found Jughead he had never been more scared in his life as Jughead was laying lifeless in the dirt and looked almost unrecognizable as Fp had knelt over his sons' body and prepared for the worst. Thankfully it hadn't been to late and Jughead was okay, well as okay as you can be after being beaten within an inch of your life, but while he did a fairly good job about hiding how he has recovered the gang doesn't know how affected he still is emotionally.

Jughead only hid his feelings for the fact that he didn't want to burden anybody else with his issues as everyone in Riverdale always seems to be going through some type of crazy shit of their own and with his newest position within the southside serpents as leader he did not want to portray himself as week. Jughead thought it was his job now to be the strong one for everybody else to lean on and look up to even if that meant hiding his emotions and pushing his feeling to the side, however with the beginning of the new school year and more drama unfolding in the town of Riverdale Jugheads life is about to take an unexpected turn forcing him into a downward spiral that is going to force him to deal with everything he has built up inside and it's going to be one long unexpected road to recovery.

It had been weeks since the entire gang was together with Archie and Veronica gone Jughead and betty had grown closer than ever before the past year had been more than most could handle but with the start of school they were all hoping to get back to living their high school drama filled lives together, instead of worrying about hunting down vigilantes and dealing with rival gangs.

…

It was around 7:45 a.m. when Betty walked into the newspaper room at Riverdale high and set her eyes on the Jughead who was already hard at work working on this week's edition of the school newspaper. "you can slow down you know? It's the first day of school there's no sense in worrying about what to write this early we have all week." Betty said as she leaned down and kissed Jughead on the cheek. She waited for a sarcastic comment to come out of his mouth but instead he muttered "I know your right" he looked at her, flashed a smile, got up and said, "let's go wait for Archie and Veronica in the lounge." Betty was all to eager to see her best friends again and was delightfully surprised to see Jughead felt the same way.

As Jughead and Betty walked down the hallways of Riverdale high the atmosphere was different, last year the integration of the students from Southside high into Riverdale high caused complete chaos. Neither of the schools were happy with the decision but they had no other choice. But this semester it was different the Southside students and Riverdale students became more alike then not, there were no fights arguments or vandalism just peers among one another. A short silent walk later betty and jughead had arrived at the lounge and took their respective seats on the old red velvet couch sitting in the middle of the room. By this time, it was 8 o'clock and you could hear the familiar sound of Veronicas heels clicking against the floor of the hallway, the sound got louder and louder until Veronica appeared in the doorway with Archie not far behind. The two had been laughing, probably about something stupid that Archie had said. Veronica then turned and saw Betty and immediately began walking in her direction. "Betty!" Veronica squealed as she opened her arms for a hug. Betty then got up and had the same reaction "Veronica I missed you!" the two then embraced in a quick hug. They began to catch up and as soon as the topic of fashion came up Archie and Jughead had decided to tune them out. Instead of a hug the two settled for a manly handshake and a head nod to one another.

Archie started off the conversation by asking jughead how he was doing, to which Jughead replied as just fine. But the truth was that jughead was not fine he was far from it, the night before he had barely slept, the bags that fell from under his eyes had supported this, Jughead was having traumatic flashbacks, he hadn't felt unsafe and he hadn't had a problem physically, but mentally he had never felt more fucked up. It was something that he didn't know how to fix and something he was to proud to admit to so for now his answer of "just fine" was going to suffice to anybody else who had asked.

…

The brown leather, dilapidated watch around jugheads wrist marked 3:42p.m. it was the end of the school day and jughead decided to go for a bite alone at pops diner when the sound of distant sirens began getting louder and louder until jughead eventually saw flashing red and blue lights on several patrol cars in the distance. It wasn't a common site to see in Riverdale but jughead figured the town had reached its quota of crazy shit happening for at least the rest of the year and didn't seem to be interested in finding out what the cause of these sirens could be. A short while later jughead was sitting in booth at pops diner with his half-eaten burger and fries when Kevin walks in frantically. after scanning the room Kevin locked eyes on jughead and sat across from him. Kevin was friends with all of them betty, veronica, Archie and even jughead but the two had never really spent any alone time together so the atmosphere was awkward at first but changed when jughead saw the look on Kevin's face.

"look Kev I was kind of hoping to be" jughead began to say but was quickly cut off by Kevin

"did you hear?" Kevin asked

"hear what?" jughead replied

"the sirens going through town" Kevin said

"yeah Kev I saw them what about it?" jughead said, he was beginning to get annoyed by Kevin's dramatic questions that were giving him no answers.

"my dad just called me and told me that he got an anonymous tip that there was a body laying on the edge of the lake" Kevin said while looking around frantically

"what do you mean they found a body" jug head said

"come on jug you're not 5 a body there's a dead body laying outside of the lake and my dad said she can't be any older than 16 or 17, blond hair but unrecognizable, do you know what that means jughead, that means that someone is out there killing people our age"

"you don't know that it could have just been an accident, your being overdramatic Kev" jughead knew deep down inside that the likely hood of this being an accident was wishful thinking, but he didn't have the mental compacity to deal with a murder who had an axe to grind with kids of Riverdale.

"IT WASN'T an accident" Kevin snapped "my dad said she was bruised and beaten, tied with rope and blood was everywhere."

Jugheads mind began to race he hadn't seen betty since the morning, he got this ill feeling inside of him his heart began to pound harder and harder. He reached for his phone praying that betty would pick up, he called but there was no answer, he tried again and again, still no answer. In this moment he began to panic.

"Kev have you seen betty?"

"no not since 3rd period" Kevin answered

This made jughead feel nauseous he jumped out of the booth and said "I have to go find betty"

"that's not all jug." Kevin stated

"what do you mean that's not all?" jughead stopped and asked "Kevin!" he repeated

"you know how today the day Bettys dad was being moved to another prison?" Kevin said

"yeah, Bettys been distant about the whole thing lately what about it?" jughead said

"my dad said that he escaped…" Kevin's voice began to trail off.

Jugheads eyebrows suddenly became raised, his posture changed, and he tensed up. Betty wasn't answering her phone a body had been found and she's not answering her phone, jugheads head began to flood with terrible thoughts of the unthinkable. Without saying a word, he rushed out of pops.

…

It was times like this when jughead had wished he had a car because it seemed as if he was moving in slow motion walking back to the school he figured betty would be there I mean she had to be right. Jughead finally was back at the school and rushing through the hallways, the newspaper room! She has to be there! Jughead thought as he was wondering the halls. He finally go to the newspaper room and it was empty he noticed Bettys geometry book on the table but none of her other things were there. His heart began to beat fast and he went into a slight panic. At this point jughead decided to call veronica she had o know where betty way they were always together. Jughead impatiently waited for veronica to answer but to his disappointment she didn't answer he tried once more and still nothing. Home, she has to be home! Jughead thought as he was leaving the school he was walking past the gym when he suddenly heard a fierce 5-6-7 and 8! Of course, it was Monday she had practice with the river vixens. It had totally spaced jugheads mind. When he looked through the windows on the doors he set his eyes on betty but instead of relief he suddenly felt very angry and didn't know why. Within an instant he flung the door open to the gym and walked in

"Betty" jughead said with a firm tone

This caused the river vixens to stop practicing to which did not please Cheryl.

Cheryl was not happy to see jughead when she turned around

"This is a private practice jughead" Cheryl said with attitude

"I need to talk to betty" jughead snapped back

" Jug what's.." Betty began o say before she was cut off by Cheryl

"We still have another half hour here jughead we desperately need our, practice time"

"oh, shush it Cheryl she's my girlfriend and I need to talk to her" jugheads tone was stiff

" 2 minutes Cheryl ill be back" betty said as she grabbed jug by the arm and pulled him out of the gym with her Cheryl replied with an eyeroll and turned away 5-6-7-8!

"jug what did you need?" betty asked

"why aren't you answering your phone" jughead snapped at her

"what's up with you, I have practice you know that, its not my fault" betty got defensive

"when I need to get a hold of you, I need you to answer, you can't just leave me hanging like that betty" jughead began to raise his voice at her

"unless you have something important to say leave, I don't know what's going on with you, but you need to calm down." Betty said. Jughead knew she had done nothing wrong, but her answer just made him angrier.

"CALM DOWN, YOUR TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN, you have no right" jughead stepped away from her

"what Is your problem betty becoming upset, I don't have time for this right now" betty turned to walk back into the gym and jughead tried to follow but she stopped him.

"betty" jughead said in a nicer tone

"don't" betty answered and walked away

Jughead leaned back against the wall and put his head in his hands and thought to himself what is wrong with me. Jughead knew he didn't have a reason to blame betty, but he couldn't control his anger.

…

A short while later betty walked out of the school and saw jughead sitting on the wall she was annoyed with him but knew something was up. As betty began to walk up to jughead he turned to look at her.

"hey" she said

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to go off in there I don't know why I did that" jughead said

"yeah it was rude but it's okay, what's wrong ?" betty asked

"what isn't wrong" jughead said as he let out a small chuckle and shook his head. Betty just kept looking at him she couldn't tell what it was, but something was off with jug. After a short period of silence jughead began to speak again.

"something happened today betty and I don't know what to do but I don't want you to worry either"

"what is it"

"I was sitting at pops diner today after school and Kevin came in he told me that they found the body of a blonde girl at the lake and didn't know who it was, I just got worried nd thought the worst" jughead told her

"oh my gosh! What happened to her? Did they find out who she is? Where? Why weren't we told? How old was she?" betty began on and on with the questions

"betty that's not even the problem jughead jumped in and said Kevin also said that while they were getting ready to move your dad to another facility he, he got away" Bettys face went blank and she looked as if she was going to be sick. She didn't say a word and her eyes glossed over.

"look betty I don't know how or what happened but I'm here for you, there gunna find him he's probably not even still in Riverdale and if he is he's going to stay away from you he wouldn't risk you getting hurt," at this point jughead felt as if he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince betty.

"I want to go home" betty said as her voice became shaky

"okay" jughead and betty began walking towards her car.

…

jughead, betty, Kevin, veronica and Archie were all sitting in Bettys living room they were all just sitting there trying to take in everything.

"I thought we were done with this I thought it would be over" Archie broke the silence

"psh, we all did, why is it that every time things finally seem to be coming together they fall apart." Kevin said

"welcome to hell" veronica added

"maybe its not that bad, maybe it was an accident with what happened at the lake and betty your dad he's got to be gone now I mean come on we all know that right" Archie said as he was trying to be positive about the whole thing.

Archie was like a brother to jughead and even though they had their differences jughead could honestly not live without him. Jughead know that Archie was just trying to make the situation better, but he began to have the same anger towards Archie every time Archie spoke. He got the same feeling he did when he was talking to betty back at the school.

"we're going to fine Archie said we shouldn't even be too worried about it lets just act as if we didn't even know, thing will eventually go back to normal." Archie said

"are you stupid? Everything will go back to normal really Archie? Shits happening here there is no normal on Riverdale this is our fucking lives we can't just forget about it; 2 killers are on the streets one of which we already know has a thing for betty. The fact that you can sit here and say that is ridiculous. Grow up" jughead said

"what? Just because I'm trying to see the positive side of something doesn't mean that I'm stupid know it's our fucking lives you don't think I know that I've been her just as long as you have jug, and I'm just as worried as you are but fuck it what are we supposed to do, don't come at me for trying to be positive" Archie said defensively

"that's all you ever say is to be positive there is nothing positive about being here and you know that get used to it and man up this is our reality" jughead said

"guys enough" veronica said

Archie stood up as he got was beginning o get heated by jugheads criticism "man up? What do you mean man up I've been through just as much as you have so don't fucking tell me to man up" Archie said?

Jughead stood up at eye level with Archie " you haven't been through half the shit I've been through pretty boy" jughead said to Archie

"fuck you" Archie said as he pushed on jugheads shoulder

Jughead lost it and pushed back.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH NO!" veronica grabbed them both by the arm before they could get any more physical, "both of you need to stop it this isn't helping anything"

Jughead pulled his arm form veronicas grasp "psh, look whose here to save the day as always" jughead said sarcastically

"watch you're your talking to" Archie snapped

Veronica pulling Archie away and began to get angry with jughead

"I don't know why you think it's okay to act like this especially right now when betty need you, you're the one acting up, we are all here for her you can come at me all you want but your wasting your breath" veronica walked away into the kitchen

"jughead let out a small laugh your being sarcastic right, here for me ? none of you were there for me when I needed you, nobody in this room"

"really jug" betty said, she had been quiet the whole time just thinking but jughead knew she was hurt by what he said, and he just couldn't care. Jughead turned and walked out. Of the door.

"jug where are you going?" betty stood up and asked

Jughead didn't even urn around he just walked out of the door and slammed it shut behind him.

"wow" Kevin said softly

"what is his problem" veronica asked

"I don't know he snapped at me earlier today during practice because I didn't answer my phone, somethings got to be up" betty said

"whatever it is he needs to chill out" Archie said

…

The next day jughead was nowhere to be found, betty sat in the newspaper room where she normally meets jughead until the bell to first period rang. Betty had gotten up and left. She walked into chemistry and sat next to Kevin.

"how's jughead" Kevin asked?

"I don't know I haven't seen him, yet he just needed time to cool down I guess"

Betty had texted jughead several times but got no response and was starting to get worried.

…

It was now lunch, and everybody was in the lounge except for jughead betty had tried calling him three times.

"unbelievable, he gets mad at me for not answering my phone" betty said

"that's how he is betty, I'm sure he's fine" Archie said

"it's just at a time like this why is he going to start more problems he knows he can come to any of us with anything its not fair that he gets to disappear when he wants to"

"your right I'll go by his house after school and see if he's there and talk to him"

"no, it's okay I'll go, and let you guys know" betty said as the bell rang to go back to class.

…

The clock on the wall marked 3:29 p.m. as betty stared at the little hand making its way around the 6 slowly clicking closer and closer to the 12 she couldn't help but thing about jughead, she was worried he had run off again or had done something stupid. RING *I didn't know how to spell the sound a bell makes* betty slightly jumped and grabbed her things eager to see jughead. On the drive over betty was acting out different scenarios of how things were going to go. When she finally got there Fp had answered the door and told her he came early this morning and hasn't been out of his room since. Betty walked to the back of the house and saw jughead sitting in his bed writing something down in a journal. Jughead looked up to see who was in the room he paused for a moment when he saw it was betty and then returned to his writing.

"seriously, jug"

"what?"

"you get mad at me when I don't answer my phone and you just disappear like that?"

Jughead shrugged his shoulders, betty sat on him bed and pushed his journal down.

"hey, I'm trying to talk to you"

"and I'm trying to write" jughead said

"what is your problem lately first going off on me then Archie and now your acting like this? Whatever is going on you can talk to me about instead of being rude"

"just go I'm fine there's nothing to talk about"

"you don't get to do that to me not now not when I need you, I can't stop thinking about my dad he tired to kill me not even 5 months ago and now he's somewhere out there what if he tries again, I'm worried abut me I'm worried about you I'm worried about our friends, aren't you?"

"your dad had an obsession with you he didn't want to kill you betty, as for me and everyone else living in this town we're all fucked in the end no point in worrying about it now"

Betty couldn't believe what jughead had just said tears began to fill her eyes she threw jugheads journal at the wall

"so, you don't even care that's it? betty paused but jughead didn't answer …fine I'm leaving"

"bye" jughead said, betty got up and walked out of the room and slammed the door he could hear her mumble the word asshole under her breath. As betty got in her car to drive home she broke down at a time when she needed jughead the most he was pushing her away with no explanation.

…

Betty walked into pops diner and took a seat next to Kevin across from veronica and Archie. They could tell she had been crying.

"what happened, did you go see jughead" veronica asked softly

"yeah he's "fine" apparently just an asshole what right does he have to act like that, whatever I'm over it" betty tried to reassure herself

"I'm sorry Hun he'll come around eventually you know that and if he doesn't forget him" that's just my opinion veronica said.

"I think I'm just going to go home guys I'm not really feeling it today I'll se you guys tomorrow okay" betty got up from the booth and left.

"what an idiot jug" veronica said as she bit into a fry

…

Jughead sat on his bed after betty left and stared at his journal on the wall he didn't know what was wrong with him everything was fine when it was just him and betty in the summer, but he felt off being around everybody he felt mad at them, and alone, but he didn't know why. Jughead got up and picked up his journal he had been writing tomorrows newspaper. As night was approaching he texted betty but got no response. He tried calling but didn't expect her to answer and he was right she didn't. he figured he could apologize tomorrow he rolled over in bed and closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. In the morning when jughead woke up he had felt refreshed for the first time in weeks he wasn't awakened by terrifying nightmares or flashbacks of that night. He just knew that he messed up with betty and was fully ready to apologize to her today at school, and everybody else.

…

Jughead walked into the lounge and saw everybody sitting on the couches except for betty he knew he had been in the wrong on Monday night but didn't want to have to deal with everybody, but it was too late they had all seen him, as he began walking up to them they all gave him the cold shoulder and their conversations died down and the atmosphere became awkward. Jughead sighed and sat down.

"listen, guys I'm sorry for the other night I don't know what got into me, I just didn't know how to react to everything going on. And Archie man I'm sorry for pushing you and saying all that stuff I really didn't mean it." jughead reached his hand out for Archie to shake it lingered out for a few seconds before Archie extended his had to meet jugheads and wrapped his other arm out around him for a hug.

"its all good man we're all on edge" their manly hug ended and they both sat down

"have you guys seen betty?" jughead asked

"no, she was pretty upset last night when I talked to her, she might need some space im supposed to meet wit her later on to study I'll let her know you want to talk to her." Veronica said

"thanks"

Just then the bell rang, and they all went their separate ways. Jughead didn't expect to see betty at all during school. he spent lunch in the newspaper room working on content for next week's paper and he had texted betty to tell her just in case she had wanted to see him but as he expected there was no answer.

…

The watch on jugheads wrist marked 9:42 pm, he undid the strap and placed it on his nightstand he still hadn't heard from betty but knew that she would be okay with veronica and in no time he was out. Jughead woke up the next morning feeling bad that he still hadn't made up with betty he figured he would get the chance to this morning and began to get ready.

…

Jughead was sitting on the old red velvet couch when once again he could hear the sound of veronicas heals clicking against the floors and before you knew it she and Archie appeared in the doorway.

"hey" jughead said to the happy couple as they both sat down "how'd it go with betty last night"

"what do you mean" veronica replied

"you said you were going to see her last night"

"I was but she said she cancelled" veronica made a face and tilted her head towards jug as if he was being dumb

"oh why?"

"to go see you"

"she didn't come see me though? I was home all night she didn't answer any of my messages"

"hm that's weird" veronica pulled out her phone and showed them the message that betty had sent her

-going to see jug tonight to talk, reschedule?-Betty

"maybe she just forgot or got busy or something" betty said as she leaned back on the couch

"yeah maybe, but I don't know something seems off betty's not one to act that way"

"I have 3rd period with her Archie said I'll text you guys when I see her and ask her what's up"

"thanks arch"

Third period had come around and Archie was waiting for betty to walk in but after the final bell rang and betty still hadn't shown up he was getting an uneasy feeling. So, he decided to text her

Archie: -where are you?-

He waited but there was no response

Archie : -guys she isn't here I'm getting worried-

Veronica: -that's weird I don't like it-

Jughead: -me either I'm going to see if she's home-

Archie: -I'll come with-

Veronica: -me too, meet outside in 5-

As they all met up at veronicas car they couldn't help but grow suspicious of Bettys actions. she wasn't one to just bail on people and not answer them. On the drive over there they were all quiet. To jughead the ride felt like forever he had felt so bad about treating betty the way he did he just couldn't wait to see her. When they pulled up to her house her car was outside giving all of them reassurance that she would be fine. However, when they knocked on the door there was no answer. Veronica turned the doorknob and it was unlocked which was unusual and what she opened the door to only made things worse. They couldn't believe what they saw, what had happened to betty...

As the door opened to Bettys house they could see that something was wrong, the furniture was disheveled, and things had been tossed and broken on the floor the house was cold and the atmosphere was different it wasn't comforting like it had always been it felt stale and left an uneasy feeling in jugheads mind. He immediately began checking every room of the house. as he was going up the stairs calling Bettys name his mind began to race, and his heart began to beat faster and faster. as he approached her closed bedroom door he paused for a moment and closed his eyes he didn't know what he was going to walk in on when he opened the door his eyes quickly scanned to room, betty wasn't there. jughead didn't know what to feel he felt a sense of relief he thought he might be walking into a room with Bettys dead body, but he didn't that also left him with a sense of fear, if betty wasn't there where was she? His mind began to race again as he had more questions than answers. He spotted Bettys phone on the bed and her purse on the floor she never left without them. At that moment he hear a scream from downstairs it was veronicas. jughead jumped off of the bed and ran downstairs "Veronica, What's wro..." jughead began to say as he rounded the corner down the stairs to the garage he was cut short. There she was laying on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding her it was Bettys mom. Archie, veronica and jughead stood there with blank looks, their minds immediately filled with worries of betty she was in serious danger if she wasn't already dead.

"what are we gunna do?" Archie asked

"we need to call the cops and tell them" veronica said

" and tell them what" jughead said in a shaky voice

"the truth" Archie said " we haven't done anything wrong if we don't tell the police someone else will"

At that moment they all heard the sound of sirens and they were getting louder and louder and before they knew it the police were surrounding the house. They all looked at one another in shock, how was it going to look the three of them standing over the dead body of their friends' mom, but before they had any time to react the sheriff along with three other police officers found them in the garage. They had their weapons drawn and the sheriff yelled at them to put their hands up and get back to the wall. They did as they were told and were watched by the sheriff while one of the police officers checked Bettys moms' neck for a pulse. It was obvious she was dead jughed thought to himself. the sheriff began to question what happened and why they were there.

"what happened here? What did you kids do?" sheriff said in a stern cold voice

"we, we found her like that" Archie said

"you know how this looks right ? you expect me to believe you had nothing to do with this?"

"yes" veronica answered "betty is our friend we could never" she stopped speaking as her eyes filled with tears.

"it's true we hadn't seen betty since yesterday and came to check on her when we got here the door was unlocked and the house was a mess and then we found Ms. Cooper" jughead said "we were just about to call the police when you just showed up"

"well someone reported an anonymous tip that they heard several screams coming from here and saw three people enter the house" the sheriff told them

After several more questions followed their conversation with the sheriff he told them he had no inkling that they had done this, with Bettys dad in the wind they anticipated something would happen just not something to this extent. As they all made their way to the living room Bettys house was developing into a crime scene. There were people searching the house, putting up crime scene tape, and moving Ms. Coopers body. As the three of them sat they're in silence they felt defeated there were more questions that they needed answers to. Veronica had been crying and Archie looked lost in the chaos of it all, and jughead was numb he didn't know what to feel or what to do. The only question they had left was where is betty…


End file.
